working in the hospital while pregnant and little skills experience

[bellefleur]

I moved in Illinois from Canada and received my work authorization. I am currently five months pregnant and wants to work in the hospital. My area of interest is medical. However, I don't have a a lot of med-surgical skills experience such as IV's, bloodwork, telemetry and etc. I worked mostly in a psychiatry and long term care through the agencies. We don't perform a lot of technical skills in those areas. I am planning to start a job hunting and this will be my first nursing job in the US. I noticed that they require at least one year experience in the hospitals on their job listings and assuming with technical skills. Do they provide orientation or training in the first place? How could RNs with little skills experience would gain hospital experiences if they don't give them a chance and if they only hire with more hospital experience? Besides, I'd like to know some suggestions on what areas that will be suited in my situation working in the healthcare while pregnant. I would appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.

[RN1982]

Why not apply for a psych position if there are any available? Starting IVs and getting bloodwork is not all that hard. Practice makes perfect. I'm sure if you are hired on at a hospital you will be precepted by another nurse who will be able to guide you.

[firstyearstudent]

Are you looking for a full-time job while visibly pregnant? If so, that might be hard. If I were you, depending on where you live, I would try to find temporary work in LTC or psych. Why put yourself through the added stress at this time. Then after the baby is born, when and if you want to go back to work full-time, I would apply as a graduate nurse. Many hospitals have orientations that last up to six months.